Alleged Outlets Thieves Have 34 Prior Arrests Between Them

Two Philadelphia men were arrested Wednesday after being found to be in the possession of stolen merchandise at the , Limerick said Thursday.

According to the department's Facebook page, "Detectives and members of Squad 1 responded to the Philadelphia Premium Outlets yesterday afternoon on the report that two men who had stolen items earlier in the week had returned."

Police identified the two as Richard Jerome Cortez and Derrick Malik Savage.

According to Detective Ernie Morris, Cortez has 29 prior arrests, 25 of them for retail theft. Cortez has 20 prior convictions for retail theft and is currently on Montgomery County Adult Probation. A detainer has been filed.

Cortez has been arrested four times since being placed on probation.

Savage has five prior arrests, two of them being retail theft arrests. He has one conviction for retail theft and one pending. Savage is currently on bail for a March 27 Upper Merion retail theft, and has two active bench warrants in district court for failing to appear for a retail theft arrest.

It was also found that Savage has a 2009 arrest for rape and other sexual assault offenses.

Cortez and Savage were arrested on Dec. 28, 2008 for retail theft at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets.

Both were remanded to the county prison due to outstanding warrants and probation violations.